Objection: James’s Command About What to Do with the Sick Proves That We CAN Get Sick

By this reasoning, the Bible proves that we CAN sin, because it contains instructions on what to do if you sin.  (Repent!)  That does not prove that you HAVE TO sin.  The argument carries no more weight when you apply it to healing.

Paul’s admonition in 1 Corinthians 5:11-13 not to even eat with any so-called brother who is sexually immoral, a railer, etc., proves that you can sin in these ways.  Like James, Paul tells you what to do.  That doesn’t mean that he considers those sins to be the will of God!  He is just telling you what to do in a situation that is NOT the will of God.

Yes, some people do get sick.  Thank God, James gives us a command (that is just as mandatory as baptism, communion, the Great Commission, or any other command in the New Testament) that the seriously ill should call for the elders of the church to pray the prayer of faith over them.  Failure to do this is disobedience.  James already talked about it being sin to know what to do and not do it at the end of the previous chapter (James 4:17).

Note, however, that James said what to do IF there is any sick among you.  No one needs to be sick, but if someone gets seriously ill and can’t make it to church, James commands that the prayer of faith be made for the person’s healing in person at that person’s request.  The fact that the prayer of faith can be prayed is proof that healing is in the Word.  Since faith comes by hearing the Word, there would be no basis for praying the prayer of faith if healing were not covered by God’s promises and statements of fact.

It amazes me that religious people harp on the “you can get sick” part and fail to harp on the
“if you get sick God will raise you up” part of this passage.  James said that the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up.  Why not major on that?  You don’t HAVE TO get sick.  You CAN get sick, just as you can sin, but you CAN get healed, too!